Students Protest Springville HS Teacher Accused Of Harassment, Bullying
Mar 29, 2021, 6:33 PM | Updated: Jul 12, 2023, 12:18 am
SPRINGVILLE, Utah — More than 100 people protested outside Springville High School, lodging serious allegations of sexual harassment and bullying against a teacher there.
School officials also launched a formal investigation Monday after two students filed complaints.
On Monday, community members, former students and current students staged a short walk-out.
“I organized this walk-out to get this teacher fired,” said Frida Gomez-Rios, a senior at Springville High.
Protestors claimed school officials weren’t doing anything about the teacher, even though students say he’s been a problem for years, potentially decades.
“The way this teacher treats the girls in his class is disgusting,” said Gomez-Rios. “He looks at them provocatively and he’ll make comments about their love lives, make suggestions about what they do with their boyfriends. It’s disgusting.”
“A huge part of it is that I don’t want any other kid feeling completely lost and hopeless like I did here at this school,” said former student Kiera Miles.
Miles said the male teacher bullied her when she was in his class seven years ago.
“In my experience, I had a seizure in his class, and I was not taken care of. He didn’t realize I had a seizure, and when I came to, he was making fun of me for falling asleep and told me I would be failed if I fell asleep again in class,” said Miles.
School officials said they didn’t know about the allegations until this weekend when it blew up on social media.
“We did reach out to say: If you have complaints, if you have any information, please contact the school, and we did just this morning receive a couple of complaints coming in, so now, we can start the investigative process,” said Lana Hiskey, communications director for Nebo School District.
There is also a petition going around to get the teacher fired. So far, it has more than 3,000 signatures.
School officials asked for anyone who has had a negative personal experience with the teacher to come forward.
